LUNG AND breast cancers were the leading cancers in men and women in 2013- 2014 in the city, a report prepared by Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai, and PGIMER, Chandigarh, in its population-based cancer registry (PBCR) has revealed. Sector 37 and Manimajra reported the highest deaths in the city in 2014. As per the report, the city saw 358 deaths due to cancer in 2014 as compared to 287 deaths in 2013. The PBCR registered 870 cancer cases in 2014 (441 were men and 429 women).

Friday’s report was the second report of PBCR. The age incidence rate of cancer in men in Chandigarh was 96.1 per one lakh population while in women it was 104.1 per one lakh population in 2013-14. The age adjusted mortality rate for men was 43.7 per one lakh population while in women it was 33.9 per one lakh population. It also said that the risk of getting cancer in men in Chandigarh was 1 in 8 while for women it was 1 in 7. The cumulative risk of death (0-74 age group) due to cancer in 2013-14 was 1 in 14 for men and 1 in 17 in women.

The report has also pointed out that the city has higher incidence of breast cancer (35.1) which is higher than the national average (22.0). The leading cancer among men was found to be lung (11.6 %), followed by prostate (9.6%) and non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (6.6%). The second highest cancer among women was found to be the cervix uteri (9.1%), followed by ovary (7.4%), curpus uteri (5.5%). According to the PGI and TMC investigators, the Chandigarh PBCR incidence rates of men and women are higher than national rates (men: 96.1, India: 92.4; women: 104.6, India 97.4 per one lakh population).

For Chandigarh, the report has provided sector- and village-wise incidence and mortality cases. In 2014, Manimajra and Sector 44 recorded the highest incidence of cancer cases with 55 and 39 cases respectively. Among the areas which recorded more than 10 deaths in the city in 2014 were sectors 19, 10, 36, 37, 44, Dhanas and Maloya.

During the release of the report at PGIMER on Saturday, UT health secretary Anurag Aggarwal said that the numbers in the report for Chandigarh were shocking. “The numbers are very huge…it needs to be checked, how the numbers are high. It needs an investigation,” he said. “Main cause for occurrence of lung cancer is use of tobacco products and the incidence of breast cancer is because of change in pattern of living in modern society, including late marriage and late childbirths,” Dr Rakesh Kapoor, Professor, Department of Radiotherapy, PGI, also co-investigator of this study, told Chandigarh Newsline.